ONE THING

There are 2 passages of Scripture that speak directly of this. Psalm 27:4 and Philippians 3:13. I was reading Psalm 27 in my normal Bible reading and the first 3 verses really stood out to me.

Psalm 27:1-3

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident. “

It was the power of these Scriptures that made me take notice and look for what was the reason for the confidence and lack of fear or worry in the midst of great opposition.

Psalm 27:4 is the answer. One thing David asks for. To be with God always. When we are with God who can be against us. This is the key to life in my estimation. Our life is better and fulfilled when we are serving instead of just taking. It is much better to give than to receive. Thought all of us need to receive at times.

Why do I say this?

Philippians 3:13,14

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Being with God will entail serving or seeking Him. So the “One Thing” of the Bible is being with God and pressing into the things God has for us to serve Him.

God has laid hold of us to walk in grace by living sensibly, righteously, and Godly Titus 2:12. He has laid hold of us to go, Matt 28:19. He has laid hold of us to be ambassadors to the world 2 Cor. 5:20. We are to be a light in the world. Matt. 5:16

But all this activity will come to naught if we neglect the one thing God has for us and that is to dwell with Him, and get our nourishment from Him and all we have comes from Him. James 1:17.

Use this nourishment to give to others as you are called in Him. Then the nourishment will continue to flow.

Satisfaction does not come from pleasing yourself, it comes from serving others from the leading of the Spirit in our life as we rest in Him.

With this resting in Him and pressing into what He has for us will give us the confidence and peace to live. Psalm 112:7

Always Be Ready to Witness

1 Peter 3:15
but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

Here is the verse that shows me God wants us to always be ready to share the gospel. It can be done alone or with groups, planned or unplanned. 1 Peter 3:15 talks about responding to a question but I will present other Scriptures that discuss other ways of witnessing.

What does it mean to sanctify Christ as Lord? To put His purposes first and to give up in things in your life which get in the way of making Christ Lord.


Jude 3
Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

Now that we are always to be ready to share the hope, we are also to contend earnestly for the faith. Now this verse does not ask us to do it all the time but it does imply we use the information we have learned and experienced to contend for the faith. Contending for the faith implies that we reason with others that disagree. Yes we are to do it in love and gentleness, but love does not ignore the glaring blindness the non-Christian is arguing with.

2 Timothy 4:2
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Preach the word in season and out of season. What is out of season? It is when people don't want to hear the topic. To preach something to someone that does not want to hear is hard. But it is what is commanded by God in this verse. One of the needs for Christian workers is to be prayed up. To have our heart pliable and humble. Then as we speak for Him we have that sweet spirit that will increase the chance that people will be able to listen to us.

Be ready and willing to preach out of season. I am reminded of Luke 12 which states to be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight. Being dressed in readiness and being ready to preach go hand in hand. We need a heart to listening for God.

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

There is power in the gospel of Christ. It is not just intellectual ideas. God's spirit can break through a heart with His light. Being not ashamed has 2 elements. One we know that it has power and will penetrate the heart of a sinner to bring them to repentance. And 2 we have consecrated our hearts to serve God and not ourself. So what others think of us is no problem.

A note on consecration: for me this comes at times through fasting and prayer. I am not easily persuaded in the goodness of sharing the gospel. My choice is to hike in the park not to talk to people. So I need to spend time on my knees before I go out and share the gospel. This is good because I don't have any ability in myself to trust in myself. I must trust the spirit in my heart.

Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. “

One of the ways of sharing the gospel is to do good works before the world and they will see your love and be willing to listen to what you have to say. This ties in with James 3 that also says we should not spout out wisdom but show it by our works.

That is not to say we are not to share the gospel with others without works but works many times will open a door that would be closed otherwise.

Prov 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who is wise wins souls.

One of the proofs of wisdom is winning souls. People talk a good talk but do they walk the walk that the Bible explains. Witnessing is a seeking for wisdom. If we have knowledge without love we are arrogant. To know the Bible without winning souls I would say is moving towards arrogance especially if we are not on our knees for the softening of our heart to find the move of the spirit to lead people on the road to an everlasting hell to the way of salvation. Why do I say this so strongly? Because if someone is on the way to hell and we don't attempt to share the way of life with them we do not have any love for them. Without love we become arrogant. 1 Cor 8:1

If we are not arrogant we are asleep. If we are asleep spiritually then we are open to attack from the enemy. An on fire Christian will have winning souls as a priority.

Lord I don't want to be arrogant or asleep. Let me be awake in you and seeking you for the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Pray Without Ceasing #2

Whether we are weak or strong we need to pray.

We need to pray until peace comes. Phil 4:6-9

We need to pray till the answer comes Luke 18:1f

We need to pray till Jesus comes. John 6:21 - The answer to our life
is Jesus being with us.

We need to pray till the Holy Spirit comes. Acts 1:8

We need to pray Luke 6:29 - We are only being religious if what we do
is not based on belief in Jesus.

Prayer is the expression of reliance on God and not our self.

To ignore prayer is to ignore God.

We need to pray till the rain of the Spirit comes - Elijah

We need to pray till the light comes to see in the spirit. Elisha and
the armies surrounding him.

We need to pray for the right attitude. Phil 2:5

Believing prayer is the life blood of the Spirit.

God is a creator and He wants us to be creators by His direction.
Romans 4:17,18 God calls into being that which does not exist.
Abraham praying for a son.

Christ backs up our believing prayers in heaven. Heb 3:1

Believing prayer must have action. - Moses before the Red sea and the
hordes of the Egyptians coming from behind. Ex 14:15 "Then the LORD
said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel
to go forward."

A Life Lived in the Presence of God

This is my 8th post on things we should always be doing. All of them are impossible without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. For years I would consider it ridiculous to attempt to live according to these instructions. Yet God does not put these instructions in the Bible to be ignored. I don't consider failure to be discouraging. I just refocus and move forward.

Now I have to be honest here. I sometimes am discouraged. But 1 John 1:9 is put there for spiritual life to be restarted. If I am only going to live according to what is possible than why would I pray for God to change things? God wants us to look for His supernatural intervention in this fallen world.

“Psalm 16:8 “I have set the LORD continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Psalm 25:15 “My eyes are continually toward the Lord,
for He will pluck my feet out of the net.”

Set the Lord continually before me.
I see this as a life lived in the presence of God.

Here is an example that the Lord brought to my attention a while back. I had a job where the leader did not come around often to see what I was doing. So I became lax and did not do my work as I should have. It was a counseling job. One day as I was chatting with my coworkers it occurred to me, how would I be acting if Jesus showed up? I knew I would be more diligent in doing my work if Jesus was there.

In reality Jesus was there, I was just not conscious of it. Jesus is with us now, whether we are aware of it or not. He sees our heart and our attitude as well as our actions.

What is the value of knowing this? Yes it will keep us on our toes, but with the proper attitude being awake spiritually is a much more fulfilling way to live than being naive or ignoring God. I can be aware of what is going on around me not just in the 3 dimensions, but also spiritually.

Colossians 3:4
“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

This could be referring to the 2nd coming or in our spiritual understanding in the present. Using the meaning in the present:
Keeping Jesus before us, as we walk through the day, we will be with Him (spiritually) in heaven in glory. The glory is the place of God's power. The power flows from the glory of the Father. Romans 6:4 So when we are with Jesus in glory we are with Him in power.

As we sit with Jesus at the right hand of the Father we rule with Jesus.
Psalm 110:2 “The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
Jesus rules and now He asks us to rule. Matt 28:18,19 All authority has been given to Jesus therefore go and make disciples.

Be awake.
Listen to the voice of the Spirit constantly.
Also be aware that Satan will try to knock us off course.
Jesus is our friend and will guide us as we look to Him for help.

The book “The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence is a good book on this discipline.

Always Abounding In the Work of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in (B)the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

The work of the Lord is the result of faith hopefully, not just doing good to been see by others.

Love is the foundation of Christianity. God is love and we are to love God and others. Love is not primarily a feeling but is practical. And our works flow from the love we have for God and others.

Our prayers and the answers we request from God are based on our works . John 15:16 says that our works (fruit) are to remain as a condition for answered prayer.

Our learning is not just for knowledge but also to pass on this vital knowledge to others.

Learning is not only intellectual but is also learned through example. Again love is the basis and to learn is not to understand but to love with deeds.

Do we study to learn or do we study to love. Our purpose is love and what we do always should be evaluated in the end product of love for God and others.

We can't love God if we don't love other's for how can we love a God who we can't see if we don't love those who we do see?

Love is the basis to understanding. If we do not love we can't see because we are blinded by our unchristian behavior. There is no ability to understand Christian principles when there is no love. 1 John 2:10,11

Jesus led by example not just by lecture. Our works come from following the examples of those who have gone before us in faith. We are taught love by doing things for others as our leaders show us by example how they love others.

Paul said, we are to follow his example as we see the outcome of his faith.

Our works are not in vain!!!

What we do for Jesus is what will last. What we do for ourselves will perish. There is a testing of our life. The things that come through the fire will pass the things that are burned will be lost. What will pass the test? It is what is done for Jesus not for show.

We do things for Jesus as we are led in the Spirit. This is faith. Faith produces strength. And will pass through the fire unharmed.

Our works for Jesus, our works of faith are not just busy work.

Take Every Thought Captive to the Obedience of Christ

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

"For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,
and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

Destroying fortresses by:
No speculation about what will happen.
All thoughts are captive to Jesus.
Reject what the world says against God.
Obedience.

We are not our own and our thoughts are not our own either. If I am going to war in the spirit I need to watch what I think and say at all times.

When there comes a desire to complain, I must reject that complaint and speak what Christ has me to speak not what I want to speak.

I have no right to speculate on what will happen especially according to my experience or others. I am to hold fast to the promise of God. If I confess the promise of God instead of my experience or others, there is the hope of fruit in the spirit.

When the world laughs at me when I hope in Christ I am to not pay attention to the world but pay attention to the Word of God.

My purpose is not to go along to get along, but to live by faith in Christ Jesus.

I am not to walk the road of least resistance but on the highway of holiness.

Let My Light Shine

Let my light shine Lk 12:35

We are to be lights for Jesus. But we can't shine if we don't have contact with our Lord Jesus Christ,

How do we shine?

Do works before men that they can see your good works. The key is to have light to shine. Our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. A yieldness to Christ will prepare our heart to give up our self will and willingness to follow as Jesus leads.

Praise in the midst of trials is a light that shines. Because we then are not self centered but Christ centered.

A yieldness to prayer is a light. Why?

Because it says we are not adequate in yourself to have anything come from ourself. Prayer states that we are dependent on Jesus.

Our light shines if we can speak the word to people in a timely situation.

Our light shines as we represent Christ. If we represent ourself we only give out darkness.

When we love others we are giving out light. if we don't love others we have no light to give.

When there is light darkness leaves. To shine the light of Christ is to show love to others. Faith operates through love. God gives us faith to love others.

Yield your heart to Christ to love others. As your heart is cleansed you will be able to love and then you will be able to shine light.

Be directed by love. If there is no love go back to Jesus and wait before Him and receive love for others. Then go in faith to shine forth the light, love, faith from Jesus.

Rejoice Always #2

I was thinking, why is God good?

Is it because I have a wife and kids with a job, house, car, health, good hobbies, and extended family with investments and savings?

How would a Christian who was persecuted for his faith say God is good? He would not have said what I said above. Nothing of this world would have a hold on him. But a vibrant Christian who had been persecuted for his faith would still say, God is good. Why?

God is good because of the benefits of eternal life. We have the hope of eternal life. We have the joy of salvation. We have peace in our hearts. We have the direction of the Holy Spirit. We have fellowship with the believers. We have the purpose of life to live by faith. We have the excitement of serving God and seeing Him work. We have the peace that comes from the Word of God. Our sins have been forgiven. We are friends with God. We have the expectation of what will He do next.

God is good. Psalm 136 - His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Meditate on the Word Day and Night

Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."

The Bible is the life knowledge of Christianity. Without knowledge we will perish.

Job 36:12
"But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge."

Faith is built by hearing the Word of God and without hearing the word of God life in the Spirit would be very hard. God gives us manna each day just as He gave it to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. So also in our walk with God we need to go and pick the manna from God that is in the Bible.

There is a danger that we will forget Jesus while studying the Word. John 5:39,40 If we have an open heart for the truth from God we will see the error of our ways and return to Jesus and not just be a student of ideas.

Christians are known by the Love they have for others. Not by the knowledge of the Bible. Let the Bible energize you to serve others. Follow the teachings of the Bible to reach out to a brother in need. Know that God will strongly support those whose heart is completely His. When we are following His teachings and looking to Him for help we can rest assured that Jesus will come to our aid.

It is meditating on the Word of God that allows the ideas of the Bible to go from our head to our heart. Learning an idea is the easy part. Having that idea to become part of our soul and spirit is not as easy. Meditation allows Jesus to speak to us and show us the spiritual applications of the Bible.

When we love God's laws we will be considering them all the time. We will pick up the Bible in the morning and refer to it at lunch and read it some more after supper.

Memorization is a good way to have the Bible in our mind so that we can go over it from time to time throughout the day as we are able. Sometimes I set out to memorize a passage. Other times after reading it over and over it starts to come to me when I am not directly thinking about it.

The Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance all that we have heard. Therefore it is important to be reading the Bible and listening to teachings from the Bible. Then the Holy Spirit will have a lot to work with.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Col. 3:16 To read and meditate on the Scriptures continually will enrich our life.

There is a cost to majoring on the Bible. Things have to be given up to free up time to meditate on the Bible. But look back and consider what you have done in the past year or two. What was worth the time and what was a waste? I will guess that time spent in the Bible was productive and time spent watching TV was not.

Are we dead to the things of the world. We can't be a friend of God and be a friend of the world at the same time.

James 4:4
"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Lord help us to give up our personal peace and affluence to find your ways.

Rejoice Always

"Rejoice always." 1 Thes 5:16

I remember a time when a Bible teacher said that he did not understand why we should rejoice in trials that James 1:2-4 talks about. And down through the years many people have ignored this Scripture. I don't think many people have an understanding of rejoicing always.

But here in 1 Thessalonians it says we are to rejoice always. James 1 says to give thanks in everything. With our heart set on this world we will be hard pressed to rejoice in disasters. 1 John 2:15 says that if we love the world the love of the Father is not in us. I have come to realize that I have a lot of love for the world. Life is good in America. Even if I lost my job and had to move to a smaller house life would still be good here on earth.

But the question before me is what am I doing for Jesus. And am I willing to pay the price to continue doing things for Jesus? I just had a $700 car repair bill. Was I rejoicing in that? No. But I now give thanks for the car and the money to pay for the car. Why did I not give thanks at first? Because I am holding on to my money and not looking to God for my supply!

I know when I stop and think about it that God is the source of my supply. But it is not from my gut reaction. That is where I want to live. I want to look instantly to God when life does not go just as I would want. Lord help me to live always with You as my source. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for helping and teaching me.

God wants us to live with an attitude of thanksgiving no matter what life brings. That does not mean we won't cry or feel pain. But it does mean that it is not of this world that our needs are met but it comes from the Kingdom of God.

"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Phil 1:21 I want to have this verse as a reality in my life. To live for Jesus and not for my personal peace and affluence.

Pray Without Ceasing

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thes. 5:17

When I run across something in the Bible that seems impossible it seems to be ignored. I don't think that was God's intention. We should at least consider what God is saying to us. God would not tell us to do something if we sere not capable of doing it.

I think we should at least consider what Jesus is telling us here in 1 Thes. 5. What would it take to pray without ceasing? For me it is a deep need. If we are praying for the things God has for us then there may be a continual prayer going up to God.

When we pray according to the direction of God and His leading in our life there is a faith because of that direction and as we pray for God to fulfill the direction that He has shown us we come to realize the need for God. As we see our complete dependence on God we come to rely on Him more and more by prayer.

Life brings many things in our way. For one prayer without stopping is tiring. It is only in great need that we come to God on a continual basis. Our needs are met through a prayer of faith.

God wants us to live by faith. Heb 11:6 and I can't pray with urgency and continually unless I have a great need.

Putting the 2 together God wants us to step out in faith and then pray like crazy for the answer.

Is this really what God wants? Does He want us to live in this urgency and expectancy? Does He want us to live in this spiritual struggle?

Phil 4:6,7 God also wants us not to be anxious and to trust in Him. It takes a lot of prayer to rest in what He has promised when the need is great. We can't enter into the rest of God until we pray through the problem and come to rest in His goodness.

2 Cor 10:3-5 Warfare is needed to counteract the doubt that will come back to us from time to time. This continual prayer and warfare will go on until the problem is resolved.

Isa 62:6,7 On your wall O Jerusalem I have appointed watchman. All day and all night they will not keep silent. You who remind the Lord take no rest for yourself and give Him no rest until He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Don't live in your personal peace and affluence. Live in expectation of God doing great things on your behalf. Then you will pray.